This weekend, the Northern Arapaho Tribe and Rocky Mountain National Park are celebrating the anniversary of a unique trip that was made in 1914 with a series of celebrations in Estes Park on Saturday.

One hundred years ago, to garner support to officially designation Rocky Mountain as a national park, the Colorado Mountain Club commissioned a trip to discover the original Indian names of the natural features of the area. Members of the Arapaho Nation from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming - Gun Griswold, Sherman Sage, and Tom Crispin - accompanied Shep Husted, who acted as the guide; Oliver Toll, the recorder; and, David Robert Hawkins, a Princeton student, on this historic pack trip. Toll went on to publish a book about what was discovered, titled "Arapaho Names and Trails."

Bond Park activities run from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 9, and include Arapaho arts and crafts vendors, a series of educational programs, and dance presentations. Additional celebrations will be held in RMNP: artist work from the Wind River Reservation will be on display in the lower lobby of the Fall Visitor Center. Featured artist Sara Wiles will present to answer questions about her artwork, which features photographs of Arapaho people and events from 2:30-5 pm. At 7:30 p.m. at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center auditorium, Arapaho Merle Hass and Alonso Moss will present a program on the Arapaho language, followed by a showing of Chiefs Documentary. All programs are free and open to the public.

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Since 1998, the Arapaho have been on several sponsored trips to Rocky Mountain National Park, participating in educational programming. Students, teachers and elders from the Wind River Reservation and Arapaho High School have learned about plants, wildlife and their cultural heritage including the 1914 pack trip route of their ancestors. Participants have included several direct decedents from the pack trip including Sherman Sage's great-grandson.

For more information about Rocky Mountain National Park, please call the park's Information Office at (970) 586-1206.